Tom's experimental swarf brushes

GeoLane at PTD dot NET · 2009-01-08T02:49:47+00:00

A few years back, Tom made up a bunch of small brushes for swarf andgave them out to r.c.m readers to see what we liked. They were likeshort narrow whisk brooms with a heavy wire loop handle. One stylehad wire bristles of 1.5" in length and the other 3.25" length. Itried them on my lathe and mill and they just didn't work for me,BUT I recently used them in cleaning up an old Bridgeport with lots ofold sticky oil soaked chips in the knee. Boy the longer one was justthe ticket to get in and whisk that swarf out of there. The shorterbristled one was still too stiff to use, but the longer one workedwell. I did choke up on the bristles a little bit to keep them fromsplaying too much.Thanks again for the brushes Tom. Thought of you when I was usingthem.RWLPS. I don't know about you guys, but I have a few tools that weregiven to me over the years and I often think of the person who gave itto me when I use it. Some of those guys aren't with us any more andthe tools remind me of them.

Jan 08, 2009 27 Replies

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DanG 17 years ago

The thread seemed to quickly get away from Tom's generous gift and job and people memories that live in our tools. I was brand new to usenet when Tom posted his offer. I didn't believe that much in life was free, but decided "what the heck". Thankyou, Tom, for your generosity. Your brushes cling to my drill press with a magnet and see some use every day and I too think of you when I use them. I also have many tools that evoke memories of particular jobs or people strongly associated.

Thanks again, Tom.

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Buerste 17 years ago

You're very welcome! I received a lot of good data from that promotion and made a lot of friends! No doubt you've see a bunch of my stupid questions over the years and you wouldn't believe how many ideas I've gotten from the answers. A lot of my machines have RCM ideas incorporated into them. The latest will be up and running in a month or so. I'll post some pix.

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Bruce L. Bergman 17 years ago

Ahh, then the "Don't Raise the Drawbridge, Lower the River!" philosophy did finally sink in... ;-)

Oh, and we need a Shop Cat Report, haven't seen one in a while.

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Vernon 17 years ago

What a great story. What poetic western justice! V

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Buerste 17 years ago

Now that it's cold, the cats seem to spend all their days snoozing on an empty desk. They curl up together so you can't tell where one starts and the other ends. However, the motion activated video shows they have an active night-life. They run around, stalk the patrolling guards, catch critters and beat each other up. Then, they must make-up by morning so they can curl up on an engineering dept. desk and snooze again all day. We did cut cat-holes in the office walls so they have free access everywhere. I don't find mouse turds on my desk anymore but I do get dusty cat paw prints on my chair, desk and keyboard. They push my mouse off my desk if I don't hide it...how appropriate!

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